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Bill Catania and Joe Lynch discuss OneRail’s winning strategy for final mile. With its recent acquisition of Orderbot, a distributed order management solution, OneRail is integrating inventory and order management capabilities to enable store-shelf-to-doorstep visibility. To learn more about OneRail, visit OneRail.com.
For example, with a data gateway, a supply planner gains accelerated access to customer orders, inventory levels, and transportation schedules, all in one place, to increase the user experience of making the right choice to identify inefficiencies and make better, more informed decisions.
For senior leaders, understanding and integrating the three pillars of sustainability—environmental, social, and economic—into supply chain strategies is essential. Transportation, warehousing, and manufacturing collectively contribute significantly to carbon emissions, making these areas critical for meaningful change.
The transition to renewable energy and the adoption of sustainable practices are now essential for reducing environmental impact, ensuring regulatory compliance, and maintaining competitiveness. Businesses face heightened uncertainty in managing costs and securing stable energy supplies.
This article outlines key factors driving supply chain change, the limitations of outdated strategies, and how Walmart is restructuring its supply chain using AI and automation. The Shift from Cost-Cutting to Resilience For years, supply chains prioritized costreduction over resilience.
They integrate AI into demand forecasting, inventory optimization, and logistics operations to improve efficiency, reducecosts, and mitigate risks. Companies must react after the fact, often incurring higher costs and reduced service levels.
” Traditional planning models optimize functional processes to improve cost and customer service. The problem is that the reduction of costs within one function does not necessarily drive value. I think the rewiring starts with the education of the executive team, and that process should follow strategy.
Reducingcost was the primary objective, and most operational decisionsfrom sourcing to fulfillmentreflected that mindset. Political instability has disrupted transportation corridors. Sudden tariff increases can quickly make a cost-optimized procurement strategy untenable, leaving companies scrambling to adjust.
In todays volatile global landscape, wholesale distributors and aftermarket companies face an uphill battle to maintain service levels, manage costs, and ensure competitiveness. Lets explore these challenges and strategies to overcome them. Conflicts in critical regions disrupt access to essential materials.
Successive governments have determined that applying zero duty on wine is the best strategy to help winemakers keep producing and selling. It may seem like a small detail, but wine has multiple component costs that affect the total price—such as production, land, labor, and oak barrels. Descartes’ CEO Edward J.
One such advancement is the integration of warehouse robotics, which has revolutionized the way tasks such as sorting, picking, transporting, and packaging goods are performed. These automated systems are designed to perform tasks such as sorting, picking, transporting, and packaging goods with unparalleled efficiency and precision.
The 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and 20% tariffs on Chinese goods are expected to increase production costs, disrupt logistics networks, and force companies to rethink supply chains. Vehicle production costs in the U.S. production at its South Carolina plant to reduce reliance on North American imports.
Many large organizations have multiple systems for order, warehouse, or transportation management that are barely integrated frequently not at all. These steps include sourcing and receiving inventory, storing inventory, order processing, picking and packing an order, shipping the order, and returns management.
The transportation, logistics, and energy storage sectors are undergoing profound transformation, driven by rapid technological advancements, evolving consumer expectations, and the global pursuit of sustainability. billion in the 12 months through November 2024), is supporting electricity costs.
For example, with a data gateway, a supply planner gains accelerated access to customer orders, inventory levels, and transportation schedules, all in one place, to increase the user experience of making the right choice to identify inefficiencies and make better, more informed decisions.
Treating suppliers as essential partners in the field of direct spend management—almost like customers—can be a key component of a successful company strategy. Supply Chain Knowledge and Risk Mitigation: Suppliers have a direct impact on direct spend with raw material and transportationcosts as two big drivers of operating margins.
If so, optimizing your inventory management strategy can be a game-changer. This method offers a solution to various inventory and shipping challenges for businesses just like yours. Below, we outline three ways blind shipping can help optimize your logistics, keep inventories healthy and save you money!
Warehouse Robotics: Systematic Redesign of Core Functions Warehouse operations have historically relied on manual labor for tasks such as picking, sorting, inventory management, and material handling. Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) follow predefined routes and are well-suited for repetitive, fixed-path material transport.
Like many companies, the French multinational produces a significant amount of its products in low-cost nations. For the first few years, the company created regional models to determine how to maintain or improve customer service levels at lower cost. Initially, regions generating lower revenue were modeled.
At ToolsGroup, we provide cutting-edge AI and machine learning solutions to enhance supply chain resiliency and efficiency. Belcorp’s demand planning and inventory management were challenged in many ways. This process is essential, as it forms the foundation for defining the optimal inventory level to achieve the highest service level.
Kristina Bernarducci and Joe Lynch discuss delivering the drinks: streamlining beverage transportation. Her approach blends data-driven strategy with a human touch, helping companies solve complex problems while creating space for collaboration. Kristina and the Bettaway team are big supporters of Wreaths Across America.
In the dynamic landscape of modern supply chains, one of the key challenges is the efficient management of resources to eliminate waste and enhance overall productivity. Standardized carton sizes also facilitate more efficient stacking and storage within the warehouse, reducing space utilization and improving overall operational flow.
Supply chain efficiency is the cornerstone of success and involves the effective management of processes, resources, and technologies from procurement to production, transportation to warehousing. In the automotive sector, manufacturers are simultaneously reducinginventorycosts and delivery times.
It's rapidly gaining popularity in the freight shipping world as businesses look to cutcosts and streamline their logistics operations. Whether you're fulfilling large freight shipments or smaller orders, blind shipping offers several key advantages that can enhance your logistics strategy and drive your business forward.
Despite the evolution of technology, none of the 28 industry segments I follow can drive improvement at the intersection of operating margin and inventory turns. Functional Metrics and the Lack of Alignment to Strategy. Most focus on costreduction, assuming that functional cost translates to operating margin.
The adoption of AI in supply chain automation is enabling companies to make more accurate decisions, reduce cycle times, and better manage complexity. Use Cases: Spend Analytics: Machine learning models analyze historical purchasing behavior to identify opportunities for costreduction, supplier consolidation, and policy enforcement.
Now for the Do’s & Don’ts In the dynamic world of FMCG, your Route to Market (RTM) strategy and distributor partnerships can make or break your brand’s success. Do Embrace Technology and Data : Use real-time data for demand forecasting, inventory management, and route optimization. Ensure margins are fair and sustainable.
With increasing environmental awareness, companies are adopting innovative strategies to make warehousing more sustainable without sacrificing productivity. Why Sustainability Matters in Warehousing Warehousing consumes significant energy and resources, from lighting and temperature control to packaging and transportation.
In May, the total number of job cuts in the US were 696,309 – an increase of 80% from the 385,859 jobs cut in the first five months of 2024. During the first week of June 2025, job cuts continued with 90,000 layoffs with iconic brands like Kimberly-Clark (1500-1900), Microsoft (6,000), P&G (7000), and Wal-Mart (1,500).
Delays, excess inventory, missed handoffs, and reactive decision-making are all signs of a supply chain that lacks coordination. This doesnt eliminate those systems, it organizes the data they produce. This reduces reliance on manual tracking or last-minute phone calls. The system also contributes to better forecasting accuracy.
Shippers that rely on imports have obviously been among the first to feel the financial strain as rising costs disrupt supply chains and profitability. Create Short-Term and Long-Term Shipping Strategies Tip: To successfully navigate import tariff challenges, it's essential to have both short-term and long-term shipping strategies in place.
That strategy can lead to thousands of scenarios, and still no number of scenarios will answer all questions. Another strategy is to dedicate resources and build the best algorithm for demand forecasting. While this sourcing strategy is the most cost-effective one, the business might not want to operate like that.
This team controls what’s bought, from where, and at what cost for the entire organization. These benefits aren’t just about lower prices; they’re also about reducingtransportation and inventorycosts, which can really add up over time. They also continuously track supplier performance.
Today’s article comes from Greca Manuzzi, Senior Expert Product Marketing at Kinaxis, and explores breaking down silos in material and transportation planning. How can businesses ensure they remain competitive in such a market while facing constant pressure to improve efficiency, reduce lead times and cutcosts?
A data-driven, holistic approach is essential to ensure that organizations stay agile, cost-effective, and resilient during times of uncertainty. In this blog, well explore key strategies to enhance supply chain resilience and highlight how services like those offered by ModusLink can help businesses navigate these challenges effectively.
But shippers looking to avoid disruptions and ensure that tight inventory levels don’t lead to missed sales opportunities pulled their orders forward. However, over-the-road transportationcosts remain low. In the past month, imports — both ocean and air — surged as disruptions exacerbated congestion at the ports.
Supply chain managers will need to assess supplier capacity, evaluate long-term sourcing contracts, and consider geographic diversification to reduce risk associated with seasonality and regional sourcing limitations. Companies may need to revise inventorystrategies and adjust procurement lead times accordingly.
He has held leadership roles such as Vice President of Linehaul & Central Dispatch Operations at Yellow, Director of Network Operations at YRC Freight, and various operational and sales leadership positions with both YRC Freight and Roadway Express over the course of his well established transportation career. on-time performance rate.
Companies that previously prioritized cost-cutting and centralized sourcing quickly found themselves exposed to serious production and distribution risks. For years, supply chains have focused primarily on reducingcosts, often prioritizing efficiency over resilience.
Balancing increased demand with consistent quality and controlled costs is difficult but essential for manufacturers looking to expand. Understanding Scaling Manufacturing The manufacturing business relies on scalability to increase production output efficiently without a proportional increase in costs.
The company is operationalizing this target by reducing emissions as much as possible, increasing use of carbon-free electricity, and removing the emissions that remain. Supporting hypergrowth while reducing supply chain logistics emissions is not an easy feat. This of course generates carbon from transportation activities.
But between rising costs, complex logistics, and the constant struggle to optimize space and labor, staying ahead can feel like an uphill battle. By maximizing space utilization, improving inventory control , and boosting workflow efficiency, you can unlock significant cost savings and elevate your customer service game.
A customer case story presented showed significant speed improvements in identifying process issues and reductions in employee time spent on this task, potentially leading to substantial annual savings through improved early payment discounts. The strategy strongly focused on enabling customer success and accelerating innovation.
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